A UN sponsored study reveals that Syria's economic losses since 2011 reached around $144 billion at the end of 2013.

Reuters news agency reported that: "The study, conducted by the Damascus based-Syrian Centre for Policy Research and commissioned by the United Nations and International Monetary Fund estimates of a 40 per cent contraction in GDP since the start the conflict in 2011." Losses are estimated at $143.8 billion, almost triple the Syrian GDP in 2010.

A group of Syrian artists in Damascus has created the world’s biggest mural made of recycled materials, a rare work aimed at brightening public space in a city sapped by war and sanctions.

The brightly colored, 720-sq meter work was constructed from aluminum cans, broken mirrors, bicycle wheels and other scrap objects and displayed on a street outside a primary school in the center of the Syrian capital.

As the people of Syria continue to endure incalculable human suffering and loss, their country’s rich tapestry of cultural heritage is being ripped to shreds.

World Heritage sites have suffered considerable and sometimes irreversible damage. Four of them are being used for military purposes or have been transformed into battlefields: Palmyra; the Crac des Chevaliers; the Saint Simeon Church in the Ancient villages of Northern Syria; and Aleppo, including the Aleppo Citadel.

A photo exhibition titled “Material Evidence. Syria” is being held in the memorial complex of “Walk of Fame” in Grozny. About 60 pictures which depict military events are presented there; material evidence taken from the war-struck country is attached to photos: an exploded mini-bus, a pane from a destroyed temple, a dummy which was used as a decoy to detect where a shooter is, and a small carpet… According to the ambassador of Syria to Russia, Riad Haddad, the goal of the exhibition is to present a real picture of the Syrian events.